The Hand You're Dealt
by MadalineGrace
Summary: A collection of one shots featuring our favorite reckless treasure hunter and the various injuries/ailments he should have sustained throughout the games. Each chapter will most likely have spoiler for certain games and will be tagged appropriately. As always, I own nothing but the plot I came up with. Enjoy!
1. After The Fall

**Summary: Let's start with that wonderful scene from UC4 where Elena finds Nate unconscious in the jungle. So much untapped potential.**

The air was thick with humidity and alive with the buzz millions of insects. The jungle itself was breathing around her, and yet Elena took no notice. Nate, _her_ Nate, was out here somewhere. Alive? She didn't know and it was killing her. Try as she might, she was finding it harder and harder to hold onto her anger. He was doing this to save his brother. Elena knew her husband well and she knew just how far he would go to save one's he loved. How could she fault him for that?

As she stumbled over an exposed root, something caught her eye. The sunlight that filtered through the canopy above glinted off of something in a nearby puddle. She stared at the spot for a moment before realizing what she was seeing. Her stomach dropped as she raced toward the clearing.

"Nate!" She cried, splashing through the puddle and dropping to her knees next to him. He was so completely, frighteningly still that feared he might be dead.

"Oh my God…" She breathed, gently rolling him onto his back. Beneath his tan, his skin was ashen. Blood still dripped from the gash on his forehead. Even as she moved him, he didn't react to her touch. "Nate…Hey! Nate!" Elena yelled, shaking him and slapping his cheeks. Fear clawed at her as she desperately pressed her fingers to his throat.

"Come on, Nate. Come on." After a moment, she felt the reassuring thump of a pulse against her fingers, weak and a bit too fast, but there all the same. "Thank God…" she whispered, her head resting on his chest. She fumbled with her radio for a moment.

"Sully. Sully, you there?"

" _Yeah, you find him yet?_ " Sully asked. Elena had to hold back a sob.

"I…he's hurt. Head injury. I can't get him to wake up!"

" _Jesus kid…alright, gimme your coordinates and I'll see if I can land close by and meet up with you. You call me if anything changes, okay?_ "

"Always." She promised. She quickly gave him her location then returned the radio to its holster.

Blinking back tears, she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed Nate under his arms. Nate was no lightweight and hauling him through the muck was exhausting, but Elena needed to get him out of there. As she settled him against a fallen tree, he groaned softly. The sound was weak and filled with pain.

"Nate?" She asked, crouching in front of him. His face was pinched in obvious discomfort. "Hey, open your eyes." She coaxed. After a moment, hazy blue eyes blinked open.

"'lena?" He mumbled, confusion evident in his unfocused eyes.

"Hey you. You with me now?" She asked, gently carding her fingers through his hair.

"I don't…Elena…wha'?" He slurred.

"Shhhhh…" Elena soothed, seeing the agitation beginning to cloud Nate's features. "We're okay. We're on Avery's island, remember? Off the coast of Madagascar?" She prompted, hoping he'd be able to piece it together.

"L-Libertalia." He murmured. Then his gaze sharpened and he stiffened. "Sam!" Nate tried to pull himself up, but his shaking arms refused to support his weight.

"Whoa, easy Nate." Elena said as she eased him back down. "You're not ready for that yet."

"I have to…Rafe…he's gonna…" Nate mumbled disjointedly, trailing off. His eyes were jumping around with obvious disorientation as he tried to place his surroundings. It worried Elena to see him so out of it. With careful fingers, she began examining the wound on his head. The cut was deep and the area had already swollen to a painful lump. A dark bruise was beginning to form around it. Still, she counted her blessings as her probing fingers found no obvious sign of a skull fracture. He had a concussion for sure, but that at least she could work with.

"Hey, you still with me?" She asked, gently taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her.

"Yeah…yeah. Why'd you…why are you here?" Nate asked. Elena smiled, relieved to see that he was more alert now.

"Sully. He, uh, explained a few things to me. Besides, I couldn't just leave you for dead, could I?" She said with a wink. "Now, how about you tell me what happened here?" Nate closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

"He lied to me. Sam. Made the whole damn thing up. Alcázar, the escape, all of it." He said bitterly.

"Why?" Elena asked. Sully had shared his reservations about Sam with her, but the news still came as a surprise.

"Avery's treasure. It's been his obsession for decades. He knew I wouldn't help him if I knew the truth."

"So he made up some story about owing money so that you'd help him." Elena finished.

"Yeah. All for that goddamn treasure."

"So, why is Avery's treasure such a big deal to him?" Nate sighed.

"It all started when we were kids." He began. Before he could stop himself, the story of the night he and Sam had broken into the woman's house was spilling out of him. Elena listened without interruption as she cleaned with wounds, even as her husband's sentences became rambling and disjointed toward the end. It was clear to her that the death of the old woman still weighed on him, even now. Then out came the explanation behind his name.

"And everything changed after that. Y'know, we became explorers. Adventurers. Mostly thieves-Ow!" Nate gasped, wincing as Elena finished cleaning the worst of the mud from his cut.

"Okay, just hold still." Nate sighed sadly.

"You know, for a while it felt like if we weren't taking turns going to jail it was because we were in jail together. And…after I lost him I—or after I _thought_ I'd lost him…" Nate trailed off.

"You didn't want to bring him back up again." Elena replied, understanding the sadness in Nate's expression.

"Something like that." He whispered, staring past her at nothing in particular. After a moment, he shook his head and looked up at her. "Well, that's it. Now you know everything." The look in his eyes was the most open and unguarded she had ever seen. Elena laughed softly.

"With you, I doubt that's everything. But…it's a lot." She said, leaving the silence to speak for itself.

"Love to know what you're thinking." He said softly, the soft expression on his face reminding her why she had come back.

"I'm thinking that you're lucky that I found you when I did."

"Yeah." He agreed softly, a small, half smile playing across his lips.

"I'm glad you didn't lose a limb or anything. It would have been a royal pain getting you out of here." She phrased it as a joke, but Elena couldn't help but think that it had been a very real possibility.

"How did you find me anyway?" Nate asked.

"Oh, you know, it was easy. Just follow the sound of gunfire."

"No, I mean how did you get here…?" Elena just smiled at him as he heard the familiar sound of airplane engines from above. _Sully_.

"Oh, of course." Elena pulled out her radio from her belt.

"Come in, Sully."

" _Hey, darlin'. How's he doin'?_ " She could hear the edge of concern in his voice.

"Oh, you know. He's banged up, but he's alive. Par for the course. Now we just need to rescue the _other_ Drake."

" _What do you mean?_ " Sully asked.

"I'll let Nate tell you." Elena replied, she squatted next to Nate and handed him the radio.

"Hey pal." He croaked. "Glad you could join us."

" _Wouldn't miss it. Damn good to hear your voice, kid. You okay?_ "

"More or less." Nate could imagine Sully's frown.

" _So what happened to Sam?_ "

"Rafe's got him."

" _Shit…you know where they are?_ "

"Uh, yeah. They're headed to the northern side of the island."

" _I'll see if I can find a place to set down over there. Once you get him, we'll need to get out of here pretty quick._ "

"Good thinking, Sully."

" _Hey, hey…what about the treasure?_ "

"Forget it." Nate said with conviction. "We don't need it."

" _But Alcázar-?_ "

"No. There is no Alcázar. It's all bullshit."

" _Wait, you mean…the debt, the escape?_ "

"Yeah, Sam made it all up. What an asshole, right? Look, I'll fill you in on everything when I see you, okay?"

" _Yeah, I can't wait. Look, you two be safe down there._ " Sully cautioned.

"You know us." Nate replied before signing off. He handed back the radio and Elena held out her hand.

"Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover." Nate took her hand and let her pull him to his feet. The moment he was vertical, however, a wave of pain and dizziness crashed over him.

"Whoa, Nate!" He heard Elena yell from what seemed like a million miles away. His vision greyed out and when he could see again, he realized he was still upright. Elena had slung one of his arms around her shoulders and was holding him tight against her as he swayed and his knees tried to buckle.

"Mmmmmphh…" Nate groaned.

"Hey, you with me?" Came Elena's voice in his ear. He could hear a slight tremble in her words.

"I…uh…think so."

"Just take a sec, okay? You've got one helluva concussion." Nate nodded and leaned against her, riding out the nausea and dizziness and pain. It wasn't his first concussion, not by a longshot, but he could tell that this was a bad one. After a minute, he straightened.

"Okay…I'm good."

"You sure?" Elena asked skeptically. "Look, Nate, you're no good to Sam or anyone if you pass out."

"I'm okay. I promise." Reluctantly, Elena released her grip on his shirt. His legs still trembled a bit, but he managed to stand without her assistance. After a few steps, his gait became more steady. His head throbbed viciously and his vision was still blurry, but he could do this. He had to. Accepting a gun from Elena, he set off toward the island's north shore. He didn't see Elena behind him, nervously biting her lip as she watched him weaving from side to side.

 **Well, that's all for this installment! I personally felt that it was extremely unrealistic that Nate could just brush off a serious fall like that. Then again, do I really want to look for realistic scenarios in a videogame? Nonetheless, I thought this scene needed a little extra. Feel free to send me any prompts!**


	2. Escape From Libertalia

**Summary: Another tag to UC4. This time, I want to Libertalia and Avery's ship. Once again, I feel that Nate deserves a little more TLC than he got.**

"There! There's our way out, Nathan. Come on!" Sam cried over his shoulder as he swam for all he was worth toward the narrowing opening of the cave.

"Keep going!" Nate yelled from behind him. The explosions from ship were throwing flaming debris everywhere and causing the cave itself to collapse around them. As he swam, Nate did his best to ignore the stinging of the saltwater in the fresh slashes that crisscrossed his body. This job had been rough on him, even before the swordfight, and it was catching up with him in a big way. Adrenaline had carried him this far, but it was running out quickly. Already he had lagged several yards behind his brother.

"Just a little further!" Sam shouted.

"I'm with ya!" Nate called back. With a grunt of effort, he pushed his aching muscles harder. With each stroke, pain lanced through his body. It was getting more difficult to keep his head above water. They were nearly clear of the ship when the its colossal mast broke off.

"Nathan, look out!" Sam warned him too late.

"Oh, crap!" The bulk of the mast crashed down on top of him and smashed against his battered body. As it collided with his already concussed head, it knocked all sense from him and forced him underwater. Dazed and bleeding, he floated beneath the surface. Above him he could see, hazy and blurry though his vision was, the shimmer of flames on water. A single gold coin drifted slowly to the bottom just a few feet away. He couldn't help but appreciate the beauty in that moment and he wished Elena could see it too. His last thought before the blackness enveloped him was of her beautiful face.

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"Come on, Nathan! Breathe!" A voice pleaded. He felt a sudden pressure around his midsection and soon he was expelling what seemed like half the Indian Ocean from his lungs. Between coughs, he dragged in ragged breaths in an attempt to revive his oxygen starved body.

"That's it, brother. Deep breaths." The voice coaxed. _Sam_ , his brain supplied. As awareness slowly returned, Nate realized that he was still in the water. Sam was holding him to his chest while still swimming toward the ever-narrowing exit. "Just a little farther, Nathan. We're almost out." Nate tried to reply, but he ended up coughing instead. "Easy, try not to talk, okay?" Through half-lidded eyes, Nate could see a tiny opening, no larger than small boat. With each passing second, more debris crashed down to block it off. He closed his eyes. _They weren't going to make it_ …

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"Oh, Nate! Nate!"

"Get him up!"

"What the hell happened?!"

"Rafe did a number on him. He and his crew triggered all the of Avery's traps. The whole place blew. He got caught under part of the ship."

"Christ, he's a mess…"

Voices drifted in and out of his consciousness. He thought he heard Elena, but it was so hard to tell what was real. Everything was so…detached. He couldn't make sense of it all. An engine roared from somewhere up above. He was vaguely aware of hands on him, dragging somewhere. Then the hands were on his chest, his face.

"Nate? Nate, can you hear me?"

"Come on, Nathan. Open your eyes."

The voices were so achingly familiar that he felt compelled to at least try to comply. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open. The evening sun bathed everything in a warm, amber glow. His eyes found the hand resting on his chest and he followed it up to its owner.

"'lena…" He rasped. The single word triggered a coughing fit that jostled his battered ribs. He groaned in pain and tried to curl in on himself.

"Shh, just breathe, Nate." She soothed, rubbing her hands in slow circles on his back. It took a few minutes for him to get control of his breathing and each painful breath convinced him that he had at least cracked some of his ribs.

"Sam?" He gasped when he felt ready to talk. A large hand squeezed his shoulder.

"Right here, Nathan." Nate exhaled a sigh of relief. Sam had made it out…

The drone of the engine was close now, no more than a few yards away. After a moment, his brain managed to realize that it was probably Sully.

"Just hang tight, Nate. We're getting out of here." Elena said softly.

"Mmmm…" Nate hummed in response. He was too exhausted to try talking again.

"Victor, get as close to shore as you can. Nathan's not doing so hot." Sam said from somewhere to his left. He heard static from the radio, then,

" _Copy that, I'm bringing her in._ "

Nate must've blacked for a few minutes because the next thing he knew, strong arms were lifting him off the ground. Momentarily confused, he tried fighting against them.

"Easy, kid. It's just us. We're gonna get you home." Sully's voice said gently.

"Home…" He repeated to himself. He pried open his eyes to see that they were now inside the plane. Between Sully, Sam, and Elena, they managed to get him laying down on one of the bench seats. Elena knelt next him, her soft fingers stroking his cheeks.

"How ya feelin'?" She asked, her concerned eyes roving every inch of him. He noted, with some surprise, that bandages had been wound around the worst the sword slashes.

"I'm okay." Nate replied, his weak voice entirely failing to convince her. "Should see the other guy." He added. Elena laughed and settled her head lightly on his chest, listening to the soft, reassuring thump of his heart. As she leaned against him, she frowned.

"You're shaking." She said quietly. "Here." she pulled a blanket out from beneath the seat and draped it over him. It smelled musty, but it felt like heaven. He thanked her, coughing a little as he did so. From the front of the plane, he could hear Sam and Sully discussing the best doctor in King's Bay to head to. He thought of all of Sully's contacts in the town and wondered just how much of the city the man had connections with.

"You know," Elena said, bringing him back to the moment, "I was really worried that you wouldn't come back this time." The stress and worry from the past few days had etched lines into her lovely face. Tears pooled in her eyes. Nate snaked a hand from beneath the blanket and stroked her cheek.

"Course I came back." He said softly, his voice no more than a whisper. "It's my turn to do the dishes."

 **Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I hope to post more soon! Let me know what ya'll are lovin' and what I should do next!**


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